Deluxe chose early on to stay out of the digital system provider game, sticking to its knitting and servicing its studio clients. But it couldn’t stay entirely out of the exhibition side, with sights now set to build out a satellite distribution network.
Deluxe Digital Media has been the largest mastering house for digital cinema content, mastering at least 50% of all digital distributions. Competition for these services, however, has grown, and DDM’s market share for digital mastering is expected to reduce in 2009. Deluxe remains, however, the largest film printer in the world.
Deluxe was purchased by Ron Perelman in 2005, who also owns and co-chairs Panavision. Included in the deal was Efilm, which has grown substantially since. While film distribution profits will predictably decline over the coming decade, Deluxe’s strong ties to the studios gives it considerable edge as it undertakes new ways to service its customer base.